Skip main navigation

Military Health System

Clear Your Cache

Health.mil has undergone a recent update. For the best user experience we recommend clearing your browser cache.

From Ghana to Washington, Sailor provides leadership during COVID-19

Image of From Ghana to Washington, Sailor provides leadership during COVID-19. From Ghana to Washington, Sailor provides leadership during COVID-19

Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Brenda Ike knows about leadership, and being resourceful. After graduating from high school in Cape Coast, Ghana in West Africa, she and her family moved to Queens in New York City.

Now with ten years of service under her belt, the logistics specialist keeps Naval Hospital Bremerton stocked and supplied as the hospital’s Material Management leading petty officer.

In her current role, she now leads more than 20 military and civilian staff members in managing all supply acquisitions and medical repair for the hospital’s warehouse and mailroom operations, Central Supply Replenishment, Biomedical Repair division, Equipment Management, Purchasing division, and Defense Military Logistics Supply System administration.

“I manage all inventory and issuances to ensure the sustainment of 84 departments and three branch health clinics,” said Ike.

Ike has been lauded for her behind the scenes effort in procuring vital supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the command’s ongoing effort to help stop the spread of the COVID-19 disease.

“Materiel Management – Supply – department is critical in fighting the spread of COVID 19. Specifically, we are overall responsible for ordering and tracking PPE that protects the entire hospital staff,” explained Ike.

There have been challenges during this new norm of daily preparing, responding and providing the needed supplies for responding to the pandemic, along with other routine duties.

“Acquiring supplies, in general, has been a hurdle worldwide. I am lucky to have an amazing team in Material Management that works around the clock to ensure that our supplies are always up to date to support all the clinics. We have to consider who needs what and how we can substitute if we don't have the requested item. It has been challenging to find vendors for supplies that cannot be filled by our prime vendor. There are no breaks in searching for PPE supplies,” explained Ike.

Although much – if not all – of their work is accomplished behind the scenes, Ike and the rest of her team have reason to be justifiably gratified that their efforts are helping to make a positive difference against COVID-19.

“It means so much to my whole crew to have a hand in making sure our staff and personnel feel safe when they come to work. Materiel Management's goal is the customer first and customer always. The only way we can rest is when we know that they have what they need and most importantly that they are safe. We also have benefited from seeing our work translate to force readiness as the personal protective equipment and testing supplies are being used for force testing and patient care,” Ike said.

Ike’s responsibility as a logistics specialist is indicative of being just as integral a part of Navy Medicine as that of a physician, nurse, or hospital corpsman.

“Most people might not believe it, but the saying ‘you can't fly without supply’ applies to every mission. As logistics specialists, our job provides the resources to ensure efficiency in every operation. There is no supply chain without logistics,” stressed Ike.

You also may be interested in...

Report
Jan 1, 2015

MSMR Vol. 22 No. 4 - April 2015

.PDF | 743.10 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Medical Surveillance Monthly Report: The first 20 years; Absolute and relative morbidity burdens attributable to various illnesses and injuries, U.S. Armed Forces, 2014; Hospitalizations among members of active ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 11 - November 2014

.PDF | 549.40 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Transfusion-transmissible infections among U.S. military recipients of emergently transfused blood products, June 2006-December 2012; Evaluation of extragenital screening for gonorrhea and chlamydia in HIV ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 1 - January 2014

.PDF | 615.15 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Images in health surveillance: dengue and chikungunya virus vectors and prevention; Surveillance snapshot: self-reported malaria prophylaxis compliance among service members with diagnosed malaria, 2008-2013; ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 2 - February 2014

.PDF | 372.58 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Surveillance snapshot: male infertility, active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2000-2012; Urinary tract infections, active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2000-2013; Human T-lymphotropic virus infections in ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 12 - December 2014

.PDF | 756.31 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Development and implementation of a cohort review for latent tuberculosis infection; Brief report: number of tuberculosis tests and diagnoses of latent tuberculosis infection in active component service ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 10 - October 2014

.PDF | 617.63 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Suicides and suicide attempts among active component members of the U.S. Armed Forces, 2010-2012: methods of self-harm vary by major geographic region of assignment; Risk of type II diabetes and hypertension ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 4 - April 2014

.PDF | 489.25 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Absolute and relative morbidity burdens attributable to various illnesses and injuries, U.S. Armed Forces, 2013; Hospitalizations among members of the active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2013; Ambulatory ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 9 - September 2014

.PDF | 409.66 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Fractures among active component, recruit trainees, and deployed service members, U.S. Armed Forces, 2003-2012; Diagnoses of eating disorders among active component service members, U.S. Armed Forces, 2004 ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 3 - March 2014

.PDF | 477.89 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Legionellosis in Military Health System beneficiaries, 1998-2013; Urinary tract infections during deployment, active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2008-2013; Update: heat injuries, active component, U.S. ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 6 - June 2014

.PDF | 526.73 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Brief report: the geographic distribution of incident coccidioidomycosis among active component service members, 2000-2013; Brief report: mid-season influenza vaccine effectiveness estimates for the 2013-2014 ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 7 - July 2014

.PDF | 634.01 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Sunburn among active component service members, U.S. Armed Forces, 2002-2013; Brief report: sunburn diagnoses while deployed in Southwest/Central Asia, active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2008-2013; ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 8 - August 2014

.PDF | 551.02 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Spread of vaccinia virus through shaving during military training, Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, TX, June 2014; Gynecologic disorders diagnosed during deployment to Southwest/Central Asia, active component ...

Report
Jan 1, 2014

MSMR Vol. 21 No. 5 - May 2014

.PDF | 531.20 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Numbers and proportions of U.S. military members in treatment for mental disorders over time, active component, January 2000-September 2013; U.S. Armed Forces air crew: incident illness and injury diagnoses ...

Report
Jan 1, 2013

MSMR Vol. 20 No. 6 - June 2013

.PDF | 528.04 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Incident diagnoses of common symptoms ("sequelae") following traumatic brain injury, active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2000-2012; Outbreak of Group A beta hemolytic Streptococcus pharyngitis in a Peruvian ...

Report
Jan 1, 2013

MSMR Vol. 20 No. 12 - December 2013

.PDF | 548.34 KB

A monthly publication of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Branch. This issue of the peer-reviewed journal contains the following articles: Bacterial skin infections, active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2000-2012; Pilonidal cysts, active component, U.S. Armed Forces, 2000-2012; Puumala hantavirus outbreak among U.S. military health care ...

Skip subpage navigation
Refine your search
Last Updated: July 11, 2023
Follow us on Instagram Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on YouTube Sign up on GovDelivery